Covenant Testimony

In view of Scripture, it seems that the Tabernacle of Testimony was real and historical. At the same time, the New Testament writers evidently believed that the nation of Israel had wondered without a land to settle in time past. But might the eyes of modern readers be blind in regard to ancient Judaic writings? Would this be a good, scholarly supposition? I think that the answer to this question lies in considering the author. The Scriptures do not claim human authors, although they were recorded and copied by human hand. No, the Scriptures claim as author the One, True, Omniscient God. This God is said to have no favoritism for the ancients or for the wise:

Psalm 19:1-4, 7-9 (NASB), "The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
            And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

      Day to day pours forth speech,
            And night to night reveals knowledge.

      There is no speech, nor are there words;
            Their voice is not heard.

      Their line has gone out through all the earth,
            And their utterances to the end of the world . . .

 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
            The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
       The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
            The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
      The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
            The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether."

The works of the Lord are not uttered to a few but rather "through all the earth" and "to the end of the world". The sure testimonies of the Lord are not given to the "wise" but rather to the "simple" to make them wise. This being our framework for studying Scripture, well, then onward! All are welcomed to read and seek understanding, and all are offered the opportunity to look upon the "work of His hands".



Facts, customs, and widespread beliefs regarding the Tabernacle of Testimony and Israel's wilderness wandering:

Reconstructed Tabernacle

• Timna Park - Park surrounded by cliffs and centered about Mt. Timna which offers a replica of the Old Testament tabernacle of testimony. The park also boasts the "world's first copper mine", dating back to imperial Egypt.
• Jerusalem Post - Tourist review of Timna Park and the full-size, reconstructed tabernacle of testimony. Article includes a photo of the replica tabernacle and notes its placement in the wilderness that Israel wandered.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Jewish history accounts that the tabernacle served as a "portable sanctuary" during a time of their wandering prior to arrival in Canaan. The Biblical account described how the tabernacle sheltered an alter of incense, table of shewbread, and a seven-branched menorah in the "holy place". Within the "holy place", the "Holy of Holies" was said to be indwelt by the presence of the Lord and sheltered the Ark of the Covenant, containing tablets written with the Ten Commandments.

Shiloh

• Israel Ministry of Tourism website - Notes that upon entry into Canaan, the Tabernacle was set up in the territory of the tribe of Ephriam at Tel Shiloh. Scholars have assessed what they deem to be the exact spot that the Tabernacle stood, corresponding also to the place where Hannah came to pray for and dedicated her son Samuel.
• Jewish Press - An alter (2 ft x 2 ft x 16 in.) has been discovered at Shiloh dating to the first kings of Israel.
• Islamic Web - Reinterpretes quite a bit of Scripture from an Islamic viewpoint (site info page), yet affirms that the Tabernacle and ark of the Covenant were placed at the geographical town of Shiloh.
• Islam For Mankind - Appears to copy, come from the same source text, or provide a source text for the Islamic Web website page above as this alternate webpage identically reinterpretes Scripture (for those questioning the acceptability of such exact copy, similar Islamic reasoning regarding Shiloh can be found on The Message of Islam website).
• United with Israel - Ongoing archeology to discover traces of the Tabernacle of Testimony which is noted in Scripture to have rested there.
• Joshua 18:1, "Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them."
• I Samuel 1:24-25, "Now when she [Hannah] had weaned him [Samuel], she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD [the Tabernacle] in Shiloh, although the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli."
• I Kings 8:1-6, "Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the city of David, which is Zion . . . Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. They brought up the ark of the LORD and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up . . . Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house [the Temple]. . ."

Other Attestators

• Feast of Tabernacles:
• Overview of the Feast - Rabbi Jack Zimmerman (a Messianic Jewish Rabbi and an ordained Christian pastor) reviews how the feast of Booths/Tabernacles is called "Sukkot" in Hebrew and was ordained by God as a reminder of how the nation of Israel dwelt in booths in the wilderness. Many Jews yet observe the feast by constructing four-walled booths with roofs of palm branches in which they "dwell" for the seven days of the feast.
• Judaism 101 - Affirms that the feast is still observed by Jewish people as a reminder of how the Children of Israel dwelt in temporary booths while wondering in the wilderness, which also necessitated a Tabernacle for worship.
• Reform Judaism - Affirms the continued observance of the feast by Jewish people in commemoration of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
• Leviticus 23:33-34, 39-43, "Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, "On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD" . . . On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days . . . Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'"
• John 7:1-3, 10, "After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, 'Leave here and go into Judea . . .' But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up . . ."
• Levitical Tabernacle Service:
• Temple Institute - The Temple Institute was founded by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who served in a paratrooper brigade during the 1967 Six Day War to regain the Temple Mount for Israel, and who has written many Hebrew works of scholarship. The Temple Institute website notes that Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, and his sons were appointed the first priests for the nation of Israel.
• Cohen-Levi.org - Modern family of Kohen, or Cohen, claims direct geneological descent from the Aaronic priesthood, with geneticists having identified a "Cohen Model Haplotype" DNA signature on the Y-chromosome. This DNA signature in members of the modern Kohen family shows direct descent from a single paternal ancester, which parallels the Torah description of the Aaronic priesthood and its regulations for priestly marraige.
• Chabad.org - Notes that the dedicated status (in departing from Egypt) of all firstborn sons of Israel was transferred to the tribe of Levi at Mt. Sinai due to the idolatry of all the other tribes with the golden calf. The dedication of the Levites assigned them to service in the Tabernacle and Temple of the Lord, which is yet seen as their role by Jewish people in their hope for a Third Temple.
• Numbers 3:5-13, "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. They shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.'       Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD.'"
• Leviticus 21:10-15, "[the Lord speaking to Moses, who instructed Aaron and his sons] 'The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes . . . for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the LORD. 'He shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people, so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.'"

A Nation Redeemed. (Part II)

The next installment on the Exodus follows. Since this is a highly contested account in both Christian and secular circles, it seems important to examine it in detail. Might it be contested due to failure to carefully read the Exodus account and parallel accounts in Scripture? Or is it being contested because it portrays supernatural events?


Facts, customs, and widespread beliefs:

• Hebrew language links to Ancient Egyptian:
• Egyptologists' Electronic Forum - Ancient Egyptian words are denoted AE. Scroll down and see entries: [A] 2, 11, 12, 14, 18.
• Menachem Mendel - Blog written by Michael Pitkowsky, who is the Rabbinics Curriculum Coordinator at the Academy for Jewish Religion. Pitkowsky presents recent scholarship associating many Hebrew words with Egyptian roots.
• Genesis 15:12-16 (NIV), "As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here [Four generations certainly allows time to become fluent in Egyptian and begin adopting words into Hebrew] . . .'"
• Genesis 41:46-52, "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh [likely requiring understanding of Egyptian] king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt . . . Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On [Joseph must have spoken Egyptian with his wife]."
• Genesis 42:18-23, "On the third day, Joseph said to them, 'Do this and you will live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.' This they proceeded to do. They said to one another, 'Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.' Reuben replied, 'Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.' They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter [implying that Joseph now fluently spoke Egyptian, as he spoke Egyptian to the interpreter]."

• Chariots in Egypt around B.C. 1550:
• Egyptian tourist site - Introduction of chariot technology in Egypt dated to Asiatic Hyksos arrival.
• Ancient History Encyclopedia - Hyksos charioteers introduced the chariot to Egypt around 1650 B.C., when their dynasty in Northern Egypt was established.
• Exodus 14:5-9, "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly. Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon."

• Story and name of Moses:
• An Islamic website - Names Moses as Musa, and relates a story closely paralleling Scripture.
• Another Islamic website - Again names Moses as Musa, and relates a story paralleling Scripture.
• Roman Historian Tacitus - Named Moses as Moyses in his 5th book of Historiae. See third section in linked page. Some parallels to Scripture are evident in Tacitus' story.
• Torah.org - Names Moses as Moshe under Judaism and affirms the historicity of Moshe's life.
• Greek Historian Diodorus Siculus - Identified Moses as the leader of the people who left Egypt to settle in Judaea, as well as the one who gave this people their laws and priesthood.
• Egyptologists' Electronic Forum - Scroll down to entry [A] 11 to see Egyptian origin of the name "Moses".
• Egyptian Historian Manetho:
• According to Josephus, Manetho declares that the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt during the time of Pharaoh Tuthmosis, of the 18th Dynasty. 
• According to George Syncellus, who was commenting on Julius Africanus' preservation of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, Moses and Israel's departure from Egypt should be placed during the reign of Pharaoh Amos, the first king of the 18th Dynasty.
• Compare to Exodus 1-14

• Hebrew Passover:
• Judaism 101 - Provides extensive details on the Passover meal, noting that the Passover is still observed in some form by 67% of Jews to this day.
• Reform Judaism - Similar description of the Passover meal, noting that the first Passover was associated with the Exodus from Egypt. The Passover was also one of the three feasts for which the Israelite people congregated, and yet seek to congregate, in Jerusalem.
• Exodus 12:1-13, "Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household . . . You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance."'" 

• Hebrew calendar beginning with Passover month:
• Reform Judaism - According to the Jewish calendar, Passover is observed in the month of Nissan, the first month.
• General Source - Scroll down to months section. Nissan is the first month and is the month of Passover.
• Exodus 12:1-3, "Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, "On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves . . ."'"

• Enmity between Israel and Egypt enduring into modern times:
• The Middle East Quarterly - Modern-day wars and tensions between Egypt and Israel.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Egyptian-Isreali conflict example in six-day war between Israel and its Egyptian-led Arab coalition in 1967. 
• Jerusalem Post - Egyptian study showed that the Egyptian people view Israel as the most hostile nation toward them (Egyptian public opinion research site - poll referenced in Jerusalem Post article is 3rd from top on web page).
• Exodus 1:8-11, "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.' So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses."
• Exodus 14:28-30, "The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore." 

• Red Sea and the Sinai wilderness relative to Goshen, Egypt:
• Red Sea:
• Islamic viewpoint - Scroll down to Part 9. The Red Sea is considered to be an actual portion of the Red Sea, with deep water, and not marshland.
• Jewish viewpoint -  Jewish interpretation of the Torah holds the Red Sea to name a body of deep water also, not merely marshland or a flood-plain.
• Exodus 13:17-18, "Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, 'The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.' Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt."
• Exodus 14:26-29, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.' So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left."

• Mount Sinai/Horeb:
• Islamic viewpoint - Both the Islamic Quran and the Old Testament require that Horeb be located in or near the land of Midian (the people of Moses' father-in-law), which corresponds to modern-day Saudi Arabia. Jabal al Lawz is one suggested candidate mountain in Saudi Arabia.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - The Midianites were nomadic people believed to have lived east of the Gulf of Aqaba in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
• Jabal al Lawz - A mountain with a visibly darkened peak, as seen below:

• Exodus 3:1-2, "Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed."
• Exodus 19:17-20, "And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up."
• II Chron. 5:10, "There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt."
• Psalm 106:19-22, "They made a calf in Horeb
              And worshiped a molten image.
        Thus they exchanged their glory
              For the image of an ox that eats grass.
        They forgot God their Savior,
              Who had done great things in Egypt,
        Wonders in the land of Ham
              And awesome things by the Red Sea."           

• Split rock in the wilderness:
• Al Naslaa, Tayma petroglyph - Lone rock in Saudi Arabia at Tayma with very uniform split running through middle, visibly eroded base, and clear trace of nomadic presence. 
• Geography of modern day route from Cairo to Tayma (see split rock Al Naslaa above):

Google Maps modern day route from Cairo, Egypt to split rock at Tayma, Saudi Arabia

• Psalm 78:13-18, "He divided the sea and caused them to
        pass through,
              And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
        Then He led them with the cloud by day
              And all the night with a light of fire.
        He split the rocks in the wilderness
              And gave them abundant drink like the ocean
              depths.
        He brought forth streams also from the rock
              And caused waters to run down like rivers.
        Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
              To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
        And in their heart they put God to the test
              By asking food according to their desire."

• Rock Art in Saudi Arabia:
• Cattle petroglyphs - Artistic work is very similar to that seen in ancient Egypt. The Saudi petroglyphs may date to sometime in the 2nd millenium B.C.
• Exodus 12:37-39, "Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves."
• Sheep petroglyphs - Awassi, fat-tailed sheep drawn on surfaces of rocks were bred and domesticated prior to 2000 B.C. Their fat tail allows them to endure arid climates in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions (see fao.org website for more information).
• Leviticus 6:6-7, "Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt."
• Leviticus 7:2-3, "'In the place where they slay the burnt offering they are to slay the guilt offering, and he shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. Then he shall offer from it all its fat: the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails . . .'"